Olympians hold off CBC in tense women’s division one decider to claim flag

Olympians will chase a coveted premiership hat-trick next year in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Basketball Association’s women’s first division after a 70-64 grand final triumph over CBC on Saturday punctuated a dominant 2023-24 campaign.

The red-and-whites were facing a three-point deficit at the final change, but they controlled the run home with a game-winning 23 points to nail down back-to-back flags.

It was a gallant effort by CBC, who had finished third with six wins — five less than Olympians.

And an upset loomed when CBC were within two points of their rivals at half-time before outscoring the defending champions in the third stanza, 19-14.

But an impressive offensive spread among Ashlee Sidebottom (19 points), Kaitlyn Harding (17), Zaleema Bourne (13) and Kate Sidebottom (13) tipped the scales in Olympians’ favour.

Aimee Borchet was superb in a losing effort with a game-high 22 points and Gaby Clancy racked up 19, but no-one else scored in double digits.

Saturday’s result extended Olympians’ remarkable success in the top women’s division to 35 premierships and was completed without starters Jemma Gatti and Ashlee Monaghan, who were unavailable.

Olympians might already have three flags in as many seasons against their name, but the 2021-22 finals were cancelled because of COVID-19 when the squad was undefeated.

For the record, Olympians won the 2020-21 women’s title and coach Jaymi Worthington on Monday joked that some club members had already claimed the hat-trick despite no champion being declared in 2021-22.

“We’re still claiming three (flags) in a row because we’d won (a premiership) the year before COVID hit,” she said.

“It was interesting, too, in that COVID season because we probably had our strongest side out of any of them.

“That was a great team, but the finals were wiped out.”

Worthington said the group had to dig deep on Saturday without two of their best players.

“We were a bit under-manned so I was very, very proud because everyone stepped up,” she said.

“They each had that never-say-die attitude, but it was certainly a grind because we suddenly didn’t have that usual bench depth.

“We’d had nine players (earlier in the season), but you know what it’s like in finals — it’s always tougher and more physical.

“All the girls contributed, which was fantastic.”